Category talk:The Legion Cycle Characters
All the non-Videssian and non-Roman military characters so far are foreign mercenaries in the employ of the Empire. The Romans, having no other option, also take employment with the Videssians early in the story. Should the category of "Mercenaries" be made? If so, I think it should be a sub-cat of "Soldiers" and only those like the Romans who fought for their own land be double cat'ed. There are probably a few others from other stories that could be added but only Jefferson Pinkard comes immediately to mind. ML4E (talk) 17:48, April 20, 2013 (UTC) :Coradin. There must be more than just those two, though. I'm sure we'll think of others. Turtle Fan (talk) 21:59, April 20, 2013 (UTC) ::Condom the Trojan also comes to mind. TR (talk) 22:03, April 20, 2013 (UTC) :::It would be nice to think of someone who wasn't written just to provide a rude pun. Turtle Fan (talk) 05:15, April 21, 2013 (UTC) ::More seriously, Conan of Venarium would too although not having read the Turtledove book I can't say if he is one there. ML4E (talk) 17:11, April 22, 2013 (UTC) I take it we are agreed on the new cat? Overnight, I thought about Pinkard and the actual Spanish Civil War that he is an expy of. Any Condor Legion or equivalent characters from tWtCE? I also thought of "Baron" Friedrich von Steuben and Col. Balthasar Sinapis from Atlantis. Would they fit? ML4E (talk) 18:01, April 21, 2013 (UTC) :I'm for the new cat. Most of the Spanish front characters in TWTPE are idealists and volunteers at that. A thorough review of the soldiers cats might find us someone though. ::Idealist/volunteer would apply to Pinkard as well. He took the Hapsburgs' money (I seemto recall, anyway) and he was out of work at the time, but his primary motives were political. Turtle Fan (talk) 19:32, April 21, 2013 (UTC) :::I thought his primary motives were purely economic/getting the hell out of Dodge for a while? He was unemployed, and had nothing keeping him in the C.S. ::::I never really had much interest in the Pinkard character, so I honestly don't remember a lot of his motivations. But as I recall, he was at loose ends and looking for a change, which meshed quite nicely with the Party's intentions; but his decision to take that of all possible options open to him was politically motivated. :::::My recollection is that Pinkard referred to himself as a mercenary when he came back to the CS although he went only because the Party asked for volunteers. On the other hand, I seem to recall he resigned from the Sloss Works to go to Mexico. He got his job back when he returned but was one of the first laid-off with the Great Depression because he lost his seniority. ML4E (talk) 17:11, April 22, 2013 (UTC) ::::Of course, if we define the category based on motives rather than actions, we'll have a heap of trouble. Especially for non-POV characters. Turtle Fan (talk) 01:18, April 22, 2013 (UTC) :::::Well, the basic definition of Mercenary is person who takes part in a conflict purely for material gain. Applying that definition to our project, I'd suggest that we should assume soldiers are not mercenaries unless they tell us they are: HT's soldiers are usually fighting because their country asks/tells them to, or because they have some ideal they are fighting for, or both. When someone is in it purely for the money, they generally say so, POV or not. TR (talk) 16:34, April 22, 2013 (UTC) :Steuben and Sinapis were officers of the Atlantean Army (in its various forms). I'd argue they are not mercs. TR (talk) 18:21, April 21, 2013 (UTC) :::I wasn't strong on Sinapis, it just seemed strange to a present day eye to have a foreign national high up in your army but I guess not so much in the LA time period. However, Steuben seemed to be a soldier of fortune who got lucky in being on a winning side of a revolt. However, even him I don't insist on. ML4E (talk) 17:11, April 22, 2013 (UTC) ::Agreed, especially on Sinapis. What about the hillbilly Marines in "Avalon"? Turtle Fan (talk) 19:32, April 21, 2013 (UTC) :::Good point. They might not have liked the pirates per se, but "kill the pirates" wasn't their primary motivation. They did it for money and adventure. TR (talk) 22:58, April 21, 2013 (UTC) I don't recall whether we actually made Mercenaries a category, but now that this page is being revisited, I see we didn't mention Otto of Schlepsig. He served two hitches in the Hassocki army as a mercenary. Turtle Fan (talk) 19:38, April 7, 2014 (UTC)